Individual perception dynamics in drunk games

Abstract

We study the effects of individual perceptions of payoffs in two-player games. In particular we consider the setting in which individuals' perceptions of the game are influenced by their previous experiences and outcomes. Accordingly, we introduce a framework based on evolutionary games where individuals have the capacity to perceive their interactions in different ways. Starting from the narrative of social behaviors in a pub as an illustration, we first study the combination of the prisoner's dilemma and harmony game as two alternative perceptions of the same situation. Considering a selection of game pairs, our results show that the interplay between perception dynamics and game payoffs gives rise to non-linear phenomena unexpected in each of the games separately, such as catastrophic phase transitions in the cooperation basin of attraction, Hopf bifurcations and cycles of cooperation and defection. Combining analytical techniques with multi-agent simulations we also show how introducing individual perceptions can cause non-trivial dynamical behaviors to emerge, which cannot be obtained by analyzing the system as a whole. Specifically, initial heterogeneities at the microscopic level can yield a polarization effect that is unpredictable at the macroscopic level. This framework opens the door to the exploration of new ways of understanding the link between the emergence of cooperation and individual preferences and perceptions, with potential applications beyond social interactions.

Cooperator driven oscillation in a time-delayed feedback-evolving game

“…Beyond this, there is a persistent oscillation of cooperation and resource. Similar oscillation has been already reported by earlier works [17,22,46,47], but in our model there was no need to assume a two-state model to observe it. Instead, the way of cooperator's reinvestment and the magnitude of time delay are identified as the crucial factors.…”

An Evolutionary Game Model for Understanding Fraud in Consumption Taxes [Research Frontier]

“…Similar trends were observed when changing the density and other properties of the networks in Section V-B. This diversity changes the cooperation levels because of the polarization of the entire population, as observed by Antonioni et al [59]. Figure 10 also reveals that diversity always induces a shift of the population to a 50% polarization (gray horizontal line).…”

Serious games as research instruments – Do’s and don’ts from a cross-case-analysis in transportation

“…Game developers and researchers have no full control over the way how players perceive and play the game. The perceptions of individuals of the game are influenced by their previous experiences, play style, and the gaming setting among others (Antonioni et al, 2019). Thus, the inherent flexibility and dynamics of games poses a challenge to the researcher that should not be underestimated in the entire game development process and application of the serious game for research purposes.…”